Weekend Movie News Wrap Up: August 6, 2009

This week:

Aliens invade the box office with District 9; get ready to see more Saw; Elvis talks Bubba Nosferatu; St Elmo’s Fire gets remade; Dennis Quaid and Tim Allen join Ron Shelton in Q School, while Maggie Q looks for a Priest; Godzilla may be going on the warpath again; Sony takes a dose of Doctor Parnassus and Wall Street 2 adds another cast member.

Box Office

It looks like originality won out at the box office for a change. Neill Blomkamp’s District 9 banked a cool $37 million over the weekend. The Peter Jackson produced Sci-Fi film had a negative cost of just $30 million and with great reviews it looks like this could do well in the long run too.

GI Joe: The Rise Of Cobra had an average drop from last weekend’s surprisingly high take. Down just around 60% (which is pretty middle of the road for a second weekend), the Stephen Sommer’s summer film took just shy of $23 million. It’s knocking at the door of $100 million already and with decent international grosses it looks like ‘franchise’ is the word.

The Time Traveler’s Wife had a softer opening than expected making away with just $18 million. The Eric Bana/ Rachel McAdams romantic science fiction drama just looks terrible!

Meryl Streep’s Julie & Julia was in fourth place after cooking up $12.5 million. With almost $45 million in the pot so far this kitchen comedy should do well in weekday plays.

Jerry Bruckheimer’s G-Force finally hit $100 million and The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard should take home about $6 million despite Jeremy Piven selling it like a work horse.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince should take in another $5 million giving the film a total of just under $284 million.

The Ugly Truth should laugh up another $4.5 million while Band Slam made just $3 million despite the new Twilight’s New Moon trailer being attached to prints (ouch!).

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Movie News

1. For the past few years Autumn arrives and brings with it a new Saw film. The sixth film in the horror franchise opens in October but The Hollywood Reporter is …er… reporting that the writers for that film and next years Saw VII, Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton have signed on for two(!) more films in the series.

I gave up after the first film, so I can’t imagine I’ll be catching any of these. I wonder when they’ll make the remake?

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

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2. Ron Perlman spoke to Fangoria Radio and gave some details about when he should be shooting Bubba Nosferatu – the sequel to Bubba Ho-Tep.

The Hellboy star said:

“Well, I have this window that’s about to open. I’ll be done shooting Sons of Anarchy in September, and we’re hoping to get into production on Bubba in my hiatus between seasons two and three. I just spoke to Paul Giamatti and Don Coscarelli this morning, and we’re just moving the ball down the field, trying to get her done.”

Perlman will portray Elvis in the comedy-horror sequel – he replaces Bruce Campbell. Paul Giamatti will star as Elvis’ manager Tom Parker.

Source: Fangoria

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3. Sick of remakes? Tough.

Joel Schumacher’s 80’s classic St Elmo’s Fire is getting the remake treatment. However this version will be beamed right into your living room as it’s being positioned as a television show. The show will be produced by Schumacher, Topher Grace, Dan Bucatinsky and Jamie Tarses. Bucatinsky has written the show which will air on ABC.

The writer/producer said:

“I feel it is time to re-create ‘Friends’ in the hour long genre and feel like this is the perfect opportunity.”

That quote says it all really.

St Elmo’s Fire is one of Schumacher’s best films (he also wrote it) and this can only sully the films good name. I can only assume that Schumacher is getting a huge wad of cash for putting his name on this.

No word on whether Grace will star – but I can imagine that he will.

Source: Variety

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4. Cinematic sporting go-to guy Ron Shelton has signed on to direct Q School. The Tin Cup director will helm Dennis Quaid and Tim Allen in the golfing comedy.

According to The Hollywood Reporter:

“School is described as a comedy in which a group of hopefuls battle it out in a competition to make the PGA Tour, with both their game and their personal lives sometimes ending up in the drink along the way. The title is a reference to qualifying school, an annual tournament in which several hundred aspiring pros compete for a limited number of spots on the following year’s tour.”

Shelton knows sport, following the likes of Bull Durham and White Men Can’t Jump so Quaid and Allen should be in safe hands.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

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5. Actress Maggie Q (Live Free or Die Hard) will be starring in Priest alongside Paul Bettany (Legion) and Cam Gigandet (Pandorum). The film takes place on a world torn by a vampire/human war in which a lone warrior priest (Bettany) and a sheriff (Gigandet) team up to save a young girl from the bloodsucker horde.

Maggi Q will reportedly play a warrior priestess who joins in the quest.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

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6. Bloody-Disgusting is exclusively reporting that Legendary Pictures is in early discussions to bring back everybody’s favorite metropolis mayhem monster Godzilla for another big-screen go-round. So far the talks are allegedly just a free exchange of could-be possibilities, so Godzilla fans don’t go nuts just yet.

Whatever is decided, let’s just hope they do what’s necessary to wipe 1998s version of Godzilla from our collective memories [Shudder].

Source: Bloody-Disgusting

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7. Variety is reporting that the Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group is about to sign on the dotted line to acquire Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, which the studio will likely distribute in theaters through its Sony Pictures Classics branch, maybe as early as this year.

That’s good news for Gilliam and Co., as the fate of Doctor Parnassus has been uncertain since its star Heath Ledger passed away while the film was still in its principal shoot. Actors Colin Farrell, Johnny Depp and Jude Law all stepped up to fill in for Ledger at various points in the film – if you’d like to see the finished result, check out the full trailer.

Source: Variety

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8. Carey Mulligan will play Gordon Gekko’s daughter in Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps. The British actress joins Michael Douglas, Shia LaBeouf, Josh Brolin and Frank Langella in the Oliver Stone directed sequel.

Mulligan was previously seen in Public Enemies and will be next appear in Brothers alongside Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman and Tobey Maguire.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

That’s it for now. See you at the movies.